by John Thavis
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- His voice weakened by respiratory problems, Pope John Paul II pronounced a brief Sunday blessing from his hospital window and waved to well-wishers.

In a talk read by an aide, the pope said that through constant prayer he was continuing to "serve the church and all of humanity" even from his hospital bed.

The 10-minute appearance Feb. 6 offered the first public glimpse of the 84-year-old pontiff since he was rushed to Rome's Gemelli Hospital six days earlier with serious breathing difficulties.

The pope looked alert throughout the event, and several times he raised his hand in greeting. That was enough to buoy many of the people who gathered on the hospital grounds and others who watched on giant video screens in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

When the pope spoke the words of the Latin-language blessing, however, it was in a weak and hoarse voice that could barely be heard.

Among pilgrims who gathered to watch at the Vatican, the mood was relatively upbeat.

"Of course w're worried, but we're also very hopeful. He seems to be recovering well," said Trena Pilegaard, a 21-year-old student at the Rome program of Virginia's Christendom College.

"Every rosary we say, we remember the pope," she added.

The pope had hoped to be able to pronounce his weekly Angelus talk, but doctors ruled that out. Instead, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, an assistant secretary of state, read the talk for him.

At noon, the curtains of his 10th-floor room parted and the pontiff, dressed in his usual white cassock, was wheeled in a chair to the open window. The crowd chanted "John Paul II" in Italian, and he raised his right hand, then both hands, in greeting.

As Archbishop Sandri read the talk, the pope shifted occasionally in his chair and at times took a deep breath.

The papal text expressed thanks to the doctors and hospital staff and to the thousands who have sent their get-well wishes from all over the globe. He said he was praying constantly for their intentions and for the needs of the world during his hospital stay.

"In this way, even here in the hospital, among the other sick people to whom my affectionate thoughts go out, I continue to serve the church and all of humanity," the text said.

The papal talk also marked Italy's annual pro-life day. Citing in a special way the unborn and orphans, it urged Catholics and all people of good will to "defend the fundamental right to life, in the respect for the dignity of every human being."

At the Vatican, pro-life activists cheered the remarks as they stood under a "Yes to life!" sign held aloft by green balloons.

After the pope made the sign of the cross at the end of the blessing, he lingered a few moments at the window. Cries of "Long live the pope!" went up.

Sister Maria Yasiurka, a Presentation sister from the pope's native Archdiocese of Krakow, stood looking up at the pope's window.

"We pray for him every day in our convent," she said. "We also pray that he returns soon to the Vatican. We want to see him in St. Peter's Square every Sunday for the Angelus."

The pope was rushed to the hospital Feb. 1 after he had trouble breathing. Doctors at Gemelli diagnosed an "acute laryngeal tracheitis," or swelling in the throat, with "laryngeal spasms," which cut off the air supply. The Vatican said the spasms had not recurred.

The Vatican medical report Feb. 4 said the pope was improving steadily, and visitors confirmed that over the weekend.

About 100 Catholic bishops were joined by Lutheran, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Church leaders for an ecumenical service in the hospital chapel Feb. 5. They offered prayers for the pope's recovery, and afterward a delegation of four church leaders met with the pope in his room and presented him with a letter.

"We were able to understand him when he spoke," said a smiling Bishop Vincenzo Paglia of Terni, Italy.

"He is better and happy, and we hope he returns to the Vatican soon," Bishop Paglia said at a press conference in the hospital lobby.

The other prelates who saw the pontiff were Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Metropolitan Serafim Joanta of the Romanian Orthodox Church of Germany and Central Europe, and Anglican Bishop Richard Clarke of Meath and Kildare, Ireland.

The bishops were in Rome for the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Community of Sant'Egidio, an Italian lay movement, which organized the hospital prayer service.

The Vatican said Feb. 4 that the pope was "eating regularly" and that his condition had stabilized. It did not say whether the pope's fever was gone or whether the inflammation that caused his breathing problems had completely subsided.

Vatican officials had hoped the pope might be well enough to speak via a video link to an annual gathering of Rome seminarians at the Vatican Feb. 5. Instead, the pope watched the event from his hospital bed, aides said.

The Vatican did not say how long the pope was expected to stay in the hospital, but it announced that he would not be presiding over his weekly general audience Feb. 9, which was to include an Ash Wednesday prayer service. Taking the pope's place at the prayer service will be U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, the Vatican said.

The pope had not been seen in public since he recited the Angelus from his apartment window over St. Peter's Square Jan. 30. The following day, the Vatican said the pope was suffering from the flu, and the day after that he suffered the respiratory spasms.

The pope has a neurological disorder believed to be Parkinson's disease, which has sometimes made breathing difficult during his public appearances. Medical experts said Parkinson's disease typically diminishes lung capacity as it progresses.